Freya's Moon
by chuunin alchemist
Summary: An arrancar is a hollow with shinigami powers. A vizard is a shinigami with hollow powers. What do you call someone who is both? My first Bleach fic wOC. Spoiler warning.
1. Loki and Iduna

My first BLEACH fic! Hope you all like it. And even if you don't, pls comment. If my writing style changes halfway, blame the weather. Thanks to Wikipedia for the Kido info.

Title: **Freya's Moon**

**A/N: **Takes place between volumes 23-24 of the manga. Slight implied yuri (relationship between leading two characters)

Yakumo climbed up the stairs of a well-known apartment building in the city of Karakura. She stuck her hand in her pocket and took out a slightly tarnished silver key, with the number 609 written on it in marker pen. She inserted it into the lock of the doorknob of her apartment.

She hesitated, glancing briefly behind her. In the skies, she saw a strange, large creature resembling a prehistoric dinosaur. Peculiarly, it had a large mask covering its face. A few meters behind it was familiar-looking orange-haired teenager in black traditional robes, carrying an abnormally large sword in one hand, and supporting a smaller female teenager wearing Karakura High School's uniform on his back. The figure jumped from a rooftop and assaulted the flying beast.

"…another normal day in Karakura-cho…" sighed Yamizaki Yakumo, entering her apartment, closing the door behind her.

**Chapter One: Loki and Iduna**

Karakura High School. Kurosaki Ichigo's class, about 8:45 a.m. 

Yakumo stared at her world history book, with a sense of extreme boredom. She'd read the book already in a few private schools her aunt had sent her to before settling on Karakura. It was not unfathomable, since she'd spent most of her time in those schools reading obscure texts in the libraries.

She was not a socialite. She'd known from an early age that her life was not one of an average Japanese female. Playing in the parks around the country while she was with her traveling uncle had taught her the basics of child life, with an extra rule.

Never talk to people who you could see through.

At the boarding school she'd attended at eight, the other students regularly teased her, talked around her behind her back. When they tried to prank her however, a local spirit would notify her, and she would manage to weasel out of any trap.

"_Look at Yamizaki, she's talking to herself again. What a strange girl."_

"_I wonder what kind of family raised her."_

"_I hear she lives by herself, financially supported by an aunt and uncle weaving in and out of divorce. It sounds like a soap opera."_

The young Yakumo would merely ignore them, those gossiping teachers.

Now however, she was beginning to find her seatmate Rinata hard to ignore.

"Psst… Yamizaki-san… Do you understand any of this?" whispered the girl with short brown hair.

"Yes, Rusegawa-san. If you have any questions, please ask the teacher." replied Yakumo curtly. Knowing her aunt, she would probably be sent to Osaka next year, and she was trying not to form bonds with any people that she might regret later.

"Aww, but the teacher's so intimidating… Could you explain to me at lunch then, Yamizaki-san? History is my worst subject…" cooed Rinata.

Yakumo adjusted her rounded glasses. "In that case, ask Inoue."

"I can't, Chizuru-chan's always stalking her and—"

Yakumo finally gave up.

"All right, all right."

"Really? Yay! Thank you, Yamizaki-san!" said Rinata happily. Her history notebook was wide open on her desk. Yakumo noticed that amidst the neat notes, there were small drawings of fairies.

Abruptly, Kurosaki stood up, excused himself and ran out of the classroom shouting about the bathroom.

"_Peculiar."_ thought Yakumo, turning the page of her textbook. _"The men's' room is in the opposite direction. Kurosaki's excuses have been getting worse."_

She turned her head in the direction of the quadrangle, where she saw that Kurosaki was now in his black robes and had Kuchiki following him. They ran out of the campus.

Yakumo discreetly took out an old book from her backpack.

"_Here's the book that I got from Kisuke-san… Let's see. Shinigami."_

Urahara and her aunt had a small affair while Yakumo was about four, and he sent Yakumo presents often. Among her aunt's previous beaus, only Urahara Kisuke had earned her approval and respect. Recently, she had asked him for any archive of spiritual phenomena, and he had given her an old book, which looked like it belonged in a museum.

The book, titled '12th division field research guide 5th edition', was about the same length and width as her textbook, and she concealed it easily. It resembled an encyclopedia in composition.

Before reading, she glanced around. Ishida, one of the few people she relatively knew, was staring out the window uneasily. She'd met Ishida in a chatroom several years ago, and was pleasantly surprised to have him as a classmate. Inoue was reading her textbook, but she didn't seem to be concentrating. Arisawa was also staring out the window blankly, but this was normal for her. Yasutora was listening to the teacher.

"_Shinigami. Spiritual beings lacking a chain of fate, capable of Kido, wield Zanpakuto or Soul Slayers. Majority have capability to fight with Soul Society, but few are able to reach true potential with Shikai and Bankai."_ read Yakumo silently. She wondered briefly what a Shikai and a Bankai were, moments before Kurosaki and Kuchiki reentered the classroom.

"_Sheesh, those two. They come back all sweaty as well... I'm surprised that there aren't any rumors circulating about them fooling around during class hours. I suppose Madarame and Abarai took care of that ages ago…"_

Ah, the new students. Matsumoto herself was a force to be reckoned with, and her presence alone attracted more perverts than half the girls in Karakura. Strangely, the occurrences of perverse incidents also declined, probably due to her tendency of sending the lechers through the roof, and occasionally hospitalizing them every time they came running. Surprisingly, Chizuru had been spared. Ayasegawa, for some reason, attracted almost as many men as Inoue did. These too were disposed of in the same manner, but only if they tried anything frisky with him (which explains why it was always so drafty in the men's locker room). Madarame and Abarai had taken to following Kurosaki around, leading many to believe they were forming a gang (the bokutou and tattoos didn't help.). These suspicions were put aside however, as soon as Kurosaki began cutting classes with Kuchiki. The only one who seemed remotely normal was the elementary student, who Yakumo didn't know a thing about, except that he'd put many a bully in the same place as the perverts who chased Matsumoto and Ayasegawa.

Yakumo shut the book. She looked at Kurosaki, noticing what looked like a keychain hanging from his belt. Strangely, according to Kurosaki, not everyone could see it.

"Ne, Yamizaki-san, did you hear about the massacre last Saturday? Tatsuki-san seemed to be a survivor…" said Rinata.

Yakumo nodded, making plans for after school in her mind.

Urahara Shoten, 4:30 p.m.

"Is Kisuke-san in?" asked Yakumo, sticking her head through the door.

A beautiful woman with coffee-colored skin and long hair answered her.

"Kisuke's in the back room. He'll be with you in a few minutes." said Yoruichi.

Yakumo began browsing the magazine section, just as Abarai, Matsumoto and the other 'new students' came into the shop. Yoruichi disappeared into the residential area of the shop momentarily.

"Ah! Shinigami-saan!" said Urahara, waltzing out of the back room holding what looked like Pez candy dispensers.

"Shut up Urahara and give us the Soul Candy." said the elementary school student.

"Ah, ah, is that how you speak to your elders, 10th captain?" cooed Urahara, distributing the candies.

Yakumo was already searching the 12th division book for a reference.

"_Soul candy. Any mortal who eats a soul candy will have his/her spirit repelled from the body, and a mod soul will inhabit the body for a while. See mod soul, gigai."_

"Soul…candy?" thought Yakumo.

"Kisuke!! Where's that old field guide from the 12th division that you brought back to earth?" yelled Yoruichi from the second floor.

"Field guide?" said Matsumoto. "We've got about the 13th edition already… Looks like a hundred years brings about a lot of changes."

"A hundred years?!?!" Yakumo couldn't believe her ears.

"All I brought was the fifth… It was published around the same time as the second series of soul candy came out." said Urahara. "It's near Jinta's Spirit Hunter comic books!"

There were scuffling noises from upstairs.

"Nope! No trace." shouted Yoruichi.

"Strange. Are the comics complete?" called Urahara.

"Yes."

"Oopsie."

"Whaddya mean, 'oopsie'?!" shouted Ikkaku. "This could have serious repercussions!!"

"It seems I accidentally gave away the 12th division encyclopedia away to my almost-stepdaughter…" Urahara chuckled.

Toshirou glared at him. "Urahara…"

"Um, I have it here…" said Yakumo, coming out from behind the magazine section. "Uh… Hitsugaya…taicho?"

"Oh shit. She knows." said Renji.

"Ah, Yakumo-chan! Yakumo, now that you probably know… This is Hitsugaya Toshirou, current 10th division captain, Matsumoto Rangiku, 10th division vice-captain, Abarai Renji, 6th division vice-captain, Madarame Ikkaku and Ayasegawa Yumichika, 3rd and 5th respectively from 11th division." smiled Urahara. He put his arm around her.

Yakumo relaxed slightly.

"Ah! Yamizaki-san from class!" said Matsumoto. "Nice to meet you!" She smiled.

Ikkaku glared at her. "If word gets out about this I'd oughta…"

"Madarame-san, the average human being living in these times regard **seeing** as believing… So if they can't see you, they wouldn't believe me if I told you." said Yakumo cautiously.

Yumichika, who had been silent up until this point, spoke up. "Ano, Yakumo-san, what led you to ask Urahara-san about the encyclopedia?"

Yakumo gulped.

"Well….. I was seeing things… Like Kurosaki-san and Kuchiki-san running around town. You see, I moved here in the middle of summer, and I'd been seeing ghosts and strange silhouettes for some time, but I started seeing monsters a few weeks before school started and began wondering about it." explained the girl. "Kisuke-san seemed to be a good approach since I'd seen him talking with Kuchiki-san…"

Matsumoto wasn't listening.

"**Almost**-stepdaughter, you say? How cute! Do you live with your mother??" she asked.

"No. I live alone. Kisuke-san courted my aunt a while back, and I happened to be under her care." said Yakumo. "My parents died a long time ago."

"Yakumo-chan, could I talk to you about that….?" said Urahara suddenly.

At the same time, Matsumoto's cell phone beeped.

"Hollow!!" she said, and she popped a candy from the Pez dispenser.

What happened next was something Yakumo wouldn't forget. A second Matsumoto in black robes seemed to tear itself out of her body, which collapsed limply on the floor of the shop. Seconds later, the body stood up, brushing some dirt off her school skirt. The Shinigami grabbed hold of Toshirou, who'd undergone a similar process, and ran out of the store.

"There they go. Wanna go watch, Yakumo-chan?" said Urahara, all smiles.

He immediately ushered her out of the store, calling for Tessai.

"If she got here midsummer, then she's had no contact with Kurosaki in her life until recently." said Renji. "She might have enough spiritual power to…"

"Don't even think about it, Renji." said Yumichika. "I admit it MAY be possible, but running into a fellow like Kurosaki-dono is a one in a billion chance. There's a less than 1 percent chance that she may have the capabilities."

"Yeah, but she's got the reiatsu. I couldn't sense her in school since that damn Kurosaki's was masking every reiatsu around for miles, and it was harder to tell in here with Yoruichi-san and Urahara." said Ikkaku. "Looks like we're gonna have to watch and wait…"

Apartment 609, 6:30 p.m.

Yakumo threw herself on the green sofa in her living room. It had been a hectic afternoon. Urahara immediately had Toshirou and Matsumoto demonstrate some Kido to her after the hollow battle and she'd managed to learn a few weak spells. After returning to Urahara Shoten, the Shinigami went to Kurosaki's house and Yoruichi shooed her away to give Urahara a good scolding for letting classified info get into unauthorized hands, etc.

She pressed the button on her phone answering machine.

"_Yamizaki-san, thanks for paying the rent earlier than usual this month. It's nice to know you've got a part-time job and that you're not relying completely on your aunt for funds… Anyway, my son wants to invite you to dinner and-"_ Yakumo instantly hit the delete button. The landlord's son was one of Karakura's least popular people and even a semi-introvert like her didn't want to associate with him.

"_Yakumo-chaan! It's your aunt Paris! Is Kisuke taking good care of you? I'm touring Korea right now, and I'm sending you your allowance via bank account…"_ Yakumo wrote down the contact number of her aunt's hotel and the new password for the bank account. Her aunt had changed her name to Paris shortly after she was born. Yakumo thought it was a stupid name. She let the answering machine ramble on about Korea for a minute before she hit the delete button.

"_YAMIZAKI-SAAAA-"_ Yakumo didn't think twice. She deleted it. "Damn Keigo." she muttered.

"_Ano, Yamizaki –san? My relatives are going abroad for a while and I was wondering if I could stay at your place for a while… This is Rinata by the way. Oh, and thanks for the history lesson earlier! It really helped! Yamizaki-san, can I start calling you Yakumo soon? I'll be over at your house by about seven… I'm sorry if it was on such short notice…"_

Yakumo stopped. A faint smile could be seen on her face. "Stop apologizing…"

That smile vanished as a hollow appeared several meters from her apartment window.

Kurosaki residence

"It's a hollow!!" said Rukia, bursting through the door to Ichigo's room.

"I know!" shouted Ichigo. He grabbed his Shinigami license and jumped out the window. "Where is it?!"

"In an apartment building!"

"DAMN!" Ichigo grabbed her and began sprinting towards central Karakura.

Outside Yakumo's Apartment

The hollow screamed at Yakumo as she ran up the apartment building stairs. She was sweating a cold sweat.

"That's right… Hollows normally go after people with high spiritual pressure… Which means me… I'm gonna have to distract it until a Shinigami gets here…"

Yakumo soon found herself on the rooftop facing the hollow. She began to concentrate her energy to her palm.

"Kido number 9…" Yakumo muttered the incantation. "**Geki!** Sealing spell!"

Before the hollow could attack her, a blast of red light assaulted it, binding its arms and legs.

A few buildings away, Urahara, Yoruichi and Toshiro watched Yakumo fight the hollow.

"I sent Rangiku to delay Kurosaki and Rukia." said Toshirou. "Are you completely sure about this? Her aunt DID leave her under your watch…"

"I'm sure." said Urahara. "Since I first met Yakumo I knew that her soul's spiritual pressure had a good chance of rivaling a vice captain's even without much training. She's a bit like Ururu in that way. Who knows how much she could grow, now that she's been in contact with Kurosaki-kun? I mean, she can't sense spiritual pressure like Zaraki-san…"

"Darn, what could be taking them so long?!" thought Yakumo, as the hollow fired projectiles at her (a la Dragonball's Kamehame Ha). She got hit a few times, and started bleeding profusely. Suddenly, she sensed something.

"What's that noise on the roof?"

"_Rinata…! Shit!! I've got to finish this! I haven't mastered this but….!"_

"**Ye Lord, Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man, Inferno and pandemonium, The sea barrier surges, March on to the south!**" Yakumo shouted the incantation. "**Shakkaho!** Fireball cannon!"

A red fireball the size of a 10-wheeler truck tire materialized in her palms and she blasted it at the hollow's head, only several meters away from her. It hit the hollow directly.

The hollow exploded, leaving a pale ghost where a monster once stood.

Yakumo panted. The Shakkaho had taken a lot out of her, more than she'd expected.

Urahara stared. "That had more effect that I thought it would."

"Did you master it with her?" asked Yoruichi.

"No. The last time she executed this, all she managed to do was singe my hat." replied Urahara.

Toshirou was surprised as well. "Hinamori's one of the best Kido users in Soul Society, and she hasn't killed a hollow with just a weak spell. Maybe it's due to her unusual spiritual pressure?"

"I think you'd better perform Konso on that spirit and patch her up." said Yoruichi.

"Good idea…"

Minutes later…

"Ah! Yamizaki-san!!" Rinata ran towards the crouched figure on the roof. "You're hurt…"

Yakumo's wounds had been healed expertly by Urahara. He left a few bruises behind, though.

"Eheh.. Fell over." said Yakumo, thinking of an excuse. "I was collecting the laundry."

"Yamizaki-san, let me help you… That looks like a nasty fall, you can hardly stand-"

"Yakumo." said the other girl suddenly.

"…what?"

"Yakumo. Call me Yakumo." she smiled weakly.

Rinata's eyes grew wide. She nodded. "Right…. Yakumo."

Urahara and Toshiro began heading back, but Yoruichi hesitated. She looked at the two teenagers.

"It's not Kurosaki you're getting the power from, is it, Yakumo-kun…" Yoruichi smiled. They reminded her of herself and Soifon when they were a bit younger (time flies not in Soul Society..). "I'll keep watching you for a while longer."

**end of chapter one**


	2. The Aesir

Finished Zanpakuto sketches. My room is a mess. On with the fanfic, rate if you want to comment. And the whole Norse mythology thing is intentional… I'll put character ids' in my profile if I feel like it.

**A/N:** I will refer to the vastrode classification of hollows as Vastrodes (capital letter). It sounds cooler, and I want people to think they're similar to the Vizard, haha.

**Chapter Two: The Aesir**

Karakura High School Gym, 9:25 a.m. P.E. period

"All right, ladies!!" shouted the heavy browed gym teacher, despite the fact that the whole class was participating. "Let's do some warm-up exercises! Move it! Hustle!"

Keigo did his sit-ups in bliss. _"Ah… Inoue-san…… Matsumoto-san… In those tight, skimpy gym outfits….."_

"**KEIGO!**" shouted Chizuru from across the gym. "You'd better not be having perverted thoughts about my hime!!!"

"Look who's talking!" said Keigo stupidly, receiving a dodgeball to the head for his deed.

Yakumo was doing stretching exercises when Ikkaku approached her.

"Oi. How ya doin?" he grinned. "Heard about the hollow last night. Seemed like you did a pretty good job there for a mortal."

"That was because none of you came to finish the damn thing off." replied Yakumo, readjusting her glasses after standing up from her leg exercises.

"Woo!" said Yumichika, popping up from nowhere. "You sounded like an 11th division member just now. I thought I was back in Soul Society."

Ikkaku eeped.

"Don't do that. You're taking after fukutaicho." shuddered Ikkaku, imagining a Yachiru-sized Yumichika.

"Anyway, what kept you?" continued Yakumo.

The gym teacher blew his whistle and ordered the students to do several laps around the gym.

"Urahara. He told us he'd take care of the hollow himself." said Yumichika.

"Yeah. Ichigo was wondering about that too. Ya think he made you kill the thing yourself for some reason?" wondered Ikkaku.

Yakumo stopped to think.

"YAMIZAKI!!!" yelled the gym teacher. "No slacking off!!"

"Okay, okay, jeez!" Yakumo picked up the pace, catching up to the 11th division shinigami.

"By the way, several arrancar attacked Karakura last night. Did you notice?" asked Yumichika. "Ikkaku-kun here barely got away with his life. Good thing he used his Bankai at the last second." He smiled at his friend.

"Speaking of which, what ARE Shikai and Bankai anyway?" asked Yakumo.

They had finished the laps, and were dividing into groups of six for volleyball training. Matsumoto and Renji joined them.

"Oh that's right! I forgot to tell you about that. Shinigami zanpakuto have three forms, a sealed state, Shikai and Bankai. The latter two can only be achieved by knowledge of your zanpakuto's name, and intensive training." said Matsumoto. The team of girls, which included Chizuru, Michiru and Ryo, were beating the hell out of Keigo Mizuiro and Chad (who refused to lay a hand on the girls).

"Matsumoto here tells me you dispatched a hollow using a low-level Kido move. Is that true?" asked Renji.

Yakumo nodded. _"Wow. These guys are treating me like…. Friends. Pretty weird, considering I've only been here a week and they've been here for a couple of days. Are shinigami this desperate?"_

"Team three! Team four! Get up here!" shouted the gym teacher. "You're up!"

"By the way, Yakumo-chan, what is this 'volleyball' that ugly man wants us to play?" asked Matsumoto innocently.

"…_.oh for….. So THAT'S why they teamed up with me…." _Yakumo sweatdropped. "Okay. You have to make sure the ball doesn't touch your side of the floor. You hit it with your arms like this (Yakumo makes strange movements) and your team has a maximum of three tries to get it over the net to your opponent's side of the court. The objective is to drop the ball onto the floor of your opponent, got that?"

"Here it comes, Yakumo-chan!" shouted Rinata, on the other team. She served the ball across the net in a high arc.

"Rinata—oh to hell with this!! Matsumoto-san, to your left!" Yakumo shouted.

Matsumoto caught the serve and the ball bounced over the net back to Rinata's team.

"Tatsuki-san!" said Rinata.

"Got it!!" said Tatsuki. She hit the ball back.

"Madarame!"

"Hn!!!" Ikkaku sent the ball into the air with a modified upward karate chop. Yakumo jumped into the air and spiked it hard across the net.

"Nice one, Yamizaki!" said Renji, who began mimicking her stance.

"_At least they learn fast."_ smiled Yakumo, wondering what life would throw at her next.

At the sidelines, a certain Hirako Shinji watched the nimble Yakumo score two more points for team three. He checked his cell phone to find a message from a comrade.

"_Hirako, watch that Yamizaki kid. She's different from all the other ones we've met, especially Kurosaki. Hiyori will have your head if we lose her. –Hacchi"_ read Hirako. "Interesting. A vizard candidate?"

His eyes met those of Kurosaki Ichigo's, who was sitting across the gym. Ichigo glared at him.

"_Seems like Kurosaki-kun's oblivious to her. Oh well."_ smiled Hirako deviously.

Urahara Shoten, 5:00 p.m.

"**WHAT?!**"

"Calm down, Yakumo-chan, this is just an experiment to see if you have what it takes, or not!" said Urahara.

Urahara, Yakumo, Tessai and the others were in the underground training area that Ichigo had trained in before he went to Soul Society. The quirky shopkeeper had asked Yakumo to hold still while he pushed her soul out of her body.

"Forget it! Rukia told me about how Kurosaki regained his powers. I can't and don't want to skip school. Besides, who's going to look after Rinata? The girl is clueless around the house…" said Yakumo.

"If you happen to have a suitable soul, we're going to turn you into a shinigami." explained Tessai. "If you don't, we stick your soul back into your body and forget this all happened."

"Then what are THEY doing here?!" Yakumo pointed to Toshirou and Matsumoto, standing a little ways off from where she and Urahara were standing.

"Oh don't mind us!" said Matsumoto sweetly.

"We're watching." said Toshirou simply.

"Agh… All right, let's get this over with-" began Yakumo, as Urahara shoved the end of his cane into Yakumo's forehead.

Hueco Mundo, Aizen's Chambers 

"Ulquiorra. Hand me that scroll over there." said the former 5th captain Aizen Sousuke.

A white haired man stood at the door, watching with a kitsune-ish expression.

"Really, Aizen, I never expected the Vastrodes to have left archives in Hueco Mundo!" smiled Ichimaru Gin. "I wonder if we'll be able to convince a Vastrode to go arrancar…" He walked into the room, and casually leaned on a wall.

"I have yet to be successful to convince one." smiled Aizen. "The results with the gilian have been spectacular, have they not? Their power has yet to surpass the Vastrodes but no Ajuca's been able to defeat our arrancar."

"Aizen-sama, here are the documents you requested." said Ulquiorra, handing the ex-captain a series of musty-looking scrolls. He then left the room.

"Ne, Aizen, what'cha looking at?" asked Gin playfully.

"Records. Apparently, the Vastrodes developed ways of passing through Hueco Mundo and earth without detection by neither shinigami nor humans. Fascinating…" said Aizen, with a cunning smile on his face.

All of a sudden, the look of curiosity on his face turned to one of shock.

"…Urahara?" Aizen was motionless. "They have been in contact with Urahara since…"

Gin's posture straightened.

Suddenly, Aizen let out a proud laugh.

"The trickster! He's been several steps ahead of us all this time…" Aizen smiled once more.

"What's up, Aizen-taicho?" asked Gin, like a lost kid.

"Our so-called genius has been plagiarizing!" laughed Aizen. "The untraceable gigai, the Hougyoku… The inventions of the 'great man' were in fact inspired by our dear Vastrodes… The Hougyoku in particular, appears to have been created by the first Vastrode, then handed to a trusted ally…"

Aizen read more, his expression slowly changing from his usual cheerful one to a more serious one.

"…..this explains why the Vastrode refuse to ally with us. They have abandoned Hueco Mundo…" read the captain softly.

"Impossible." said Gin.

"Possible." corrected Aizen.

Gin was silent as he attempted to comprehend the meaning of Aizen's sentence.

"It appears they have been using Urahara's gigai."

Urahara Shoten

Jinta and Ururu stared, in complete silence.

"Toshirou, are you seeing this?" said Matsumoto.

Yakumo looked at herself, at a loss for words. She recalled a page of the 12th division encyclopedia.

"_When a spirit is initially drawn forcefully from its body by a cause other than death, the spirit will be bound by a chain of fate to its original host body. When the chain is severed, in three days, the spirit will become a hollow."_

She understood what the article meant. But nothing in the encyclopedia could prepare her for this.

Instead of a chain of fate, there was a gaping hole.

**end of chapter two**


	3. Baldur

The Internet is lagging. Postponing online games for a few hours, I write whatever pops up into my head. And throw it to fanfic sites like these. Hehe

**A/N: **Luz means 'light'. Estrella means 'star'.

**Chapter Three: Baldur**

"What the hell….?" said Yakumo. "A hole… Does this make me a hollow?"

"In the loosest sense, yes." said Urahara. "This is what I initially wanted to talk to you about yesterday. May I continue?"

Toshirou grabbed his zanpakuto.

"I would refrain you from acting, 10th captain." said Urahara. "As you can see, she has no traces of a hollow's mask, and therefore she is not an arrancar. And yet, she has a zanpakuto! What does this make her?"

Yakumo turned around, and was startled to see a meter-long katana at her waist's side.

"She isn't in shinigami garb though." noted Matsumoto.

"Does she have to be?" smiled Urahara coyly.

"Th-this is…" Yakumo started.

"Overwhelmed? It looks like we can skip the transformation processes and proceed immediately to training!" said Urahara cheerfully.

"Kisuke-san! What is it you were talking about earlier?" insisted Yakumo.

Urahara's expression darkened.

"I would prefer it if we could keep this matter private with Soul Society." he said firmly.

A ninja dropped down from the hole in the skylike ceiling.

"Give it up, Kisuke. You're lucky the Center 46 hasn't been on to you since the beginning. And it would help to shed some light on Yakumo-chan's real origin." said Yoruichi. "Providing that Hitsugaya-taicho and Matsumoto-fukutaicho don't rat on to Soul Society."

"Is it that important?" said Matsumoto.

"The reason we kept it so secret was because the higher-ups would react rather… undesirably. What is more…. allies of ours warned us of Aizen's treachery before Ichigo ever received his shinigami powers, and so we worked harder to make sure the conditions were just right." replied Yoruichi. "What we may tell you could be the trump card in our deck. Swear to us that not a soul will hear of this."

"Heh." smirked the young captain. "I swear."

"Taicho, are you serious….?" asked Matsumoto.

"Regardless whether or not we know, Urahara will carry out his plan. Correct?" said Toshirou.

Urahara nodded.

"Could someone tell me what the hell is going on?!" yelled Yakumo. "I know what happened in Sol Society over the summer from Yumichika-san, Ikkaku-kun and Renji-san but this is confusing me! And why am I a hollow?!"

"Ikkaku**-kun**???" said Matsumoto.

"What???????????" Yakumo stared.

"Nothing. Might as well swear…" Matsumoto sighed.

"All right. This is one heck of a long story guys and I don't want to repeat myself, so listen up…" Urahara took a deep, long breath.

Apartment 609, 6:52 p.m.

"Yakumo-kun! I'm home!" said Rinata, carrying several shopping bags.

"What's with all the stuff?" asked Yakumo, brushing her long hair into a braid.

"I wanted to make cookies since you've got an oven… At my house, our oven's broken." Rinata removed various food items from the shopping bags and attempted to organize them into the closets and cupboards.

"By the way, only boys receive the –kun honorific…" noted Yakumo.

"Is that so? Sorry, Yakumo-kun… Oops! There I go again…" Rinata shrugged. "But it suits you…"

Yakumo stared out the balcony window, comprehending Urahara's story…

"_Several hundreds of years ago when I was already a captain, I met an amazing person who went by the name of Luz. She was, and is still the most powerful being I may meet in my lifetime. She was the one who told me to establish Soul Society's R&D department, and gave me the Hougyoku in exchange for a great burden that I now carry." _explained Urahara, back in the store's basement grounds.

" '_From now on, you shall be the Vastrode's ally within Soul Society, one which will know all to befall it. In exchange for our knowledge, you shall keep us in this world as humans, and you must give up your power-your Bankai.'"_

"_Giving up my ability to use Bankai was hard, but Luz taught me the techniques I used on Kurosaki-kun, the methods of making the untraceable gigai, almost everything. The Vastrode, the highest order of hollow, had the wits to survive but despite their feared power, they had no control over it, and needed me to produce gigai for them. These are the same gigai I used on Rukia Kuchiki, gigai that not only hindered growth of spiritual power, but repressed it. With this the Vastrode, once deities of power within Hueco Mundo, now lived as humans in our world."_

"_The downside of this was that the Vastrode gave up almost all spiritual capability, and as a race of hollow, very few managed to get past the limits I set on their power. Most had only enough to see normal spirits and occasionally, other hollows. The gigai also enabled them to live and survive like humans, requiring food, shelter, all the necessities to live. Of course this meant that they died as humans and their souls would go to Soul Society."_

"_Luz had such a fate. Although she was the first Vastrode, her powers were almost gone, due to the fact that she made the barrier that exists between Hueco Mundo, Earth and Soul Society. To her it was little power, but for us shinigami… Well, she was still strong enough to take out at least two captains at once. Reborn into Soul Society, she was accepted into a well known clan. She'd lost most of her memory along the way but remembered enough to know who I was when she saw me. Luz is standing right here in this room, but we all know her as Shihouin Yoruichi."_

"Yoruichi was a Vastrode before…" said Yakumo to herself. "This is really complicated… I wish that damn Kisuke wrote it down somewhere."

"_On a side note, her apprentice Estrella lost a good deal of power as well, but in her rebirth lost almost all traces of her past as a Vastrode. She reunited with Luz however… She goes by the name of Soifon now."_

"Boy, was Hitsugaya-taicho surprised when he learned that the 2nd division captain was a Vastrode…" smiled Yakumo.

"_Fast forward to Aizen's recent activities. The Hougyoku, according to my reports, can only be activated by a series of conditions. Those reports are completely false. The Hougyoku can be used by anyone with spiritual power, but only the Vastrode can use it effectively. Luckily, Luz and Estrella destroyed the documents in Hueco Mundo that state this. They did leave some incomplete documents there, including some with my name mentioned, to make Aizen think he has the upper hand in information."_

"_There is currently only one Vastrode in the world with power enough to operate the Hougyoku effectively. This very Vastrode's hollow powers pale in comparison to Luz's original powers, but this Vastrode in particular has a few abnormalities. For starters, the Vastrode in question was not transferred into a gigai, but was born into a human body with a Vastrode soul. Second, the Vastrode has not been changed into an arrancar, but has a zanpakuto and shinigami abilities…"_

"_That Vastrode is you, Yakumo." said Urahara firmly. "Which is why I had your aunt send you to Karakura. It was by pure chance that I found you, and it is our luck to have someone like you."_

"_Wait. So I'm a Vastrode… Does this mean I have to fight?" asked the perplexed girl._

"_Take your time. That was a lot of information to take in." smiled Yoruichi._

"_It's a good thing I didn't pull Hell into the discussion…" said Urahara, stretching._

"_Wait, this has something to do with Hell??" said Toshirou._

"_It does. Hell had a part in Yakumo's birth, but we'll get to that another time." began Urahara. "Yakumo, you have no biological parents to speak of. Yoruichi modified your aunt and uncle's memories to hoodwink them into thinking that you were their niece and specifically made sure that for most of your life you were alone."_

"_Why?" Yakumo shouted. "So all this time, I've been spending my life friendless because of you guys?!"_

"_It was to prepare you psychologically." said Yoruichi. "I'm sorry…"_

_She walked over to Yakumo and gave her a hug._

"_If anything, it was my fault. If I had left you with parents and siblings, you would have turned out differently, and it would have been harder to make the transition. Look at Ichigo. He's cutting classes for the greater good, isn't he? However, he has his family to worry about and all…" Yoruichi hugged harder. "If its family you want, I'll bully the shinigami to stay with you. You already seem to be attached to a couple of them. And you have Rinata."_

"_Oh yes! About Rinata…" said Urahara._

"_I don't think we should be telling her yet." said Yoruichi._

"_What about Rinata???" said Yakumo forcefully._

"_She's not a Vastrode if that's what you mean. For the time being, she is an ordinary human. We'll tell you one we're sure about her, okay?" smiled Yoruichi. "And I can be your mom and Kisuke here can be your surrogate dad."_

"_Eheh… No thanks." sweatdropped Yakumo._

Yakumo though about this deeply.

Soon, she noticed the scent of oatmeal raisin cookies in the air.

"Wow Rinata, those smell **good**! Can I have some?" said Yakumo.

"No, Yakumo-kun, you'll spoil your appetite!"

"Come on, just one? Please?" Yakumo's stomach grumbled.

Hueco Mundo

"Are you insane, Aizen?! If you want me to do that then you've got another thing coming!!" shouted Grimmjow Jaggerjack. "I mean we're arrancar, not Vastrode! Why should we be running around in human bodies like the rest of those worthless shinigami?!"

"**Grimmjow!!**" growled Kaname Tousen.

"That's the fourth Espada to refuse the offer…" sighed Aizen dramatically. "Let him be, Kaname, it's not an order, rather it is an offer."

"May I accept it, Aizen-sama?" asked Ulquiorra, stepping from the shadows.

"Ulquiorra! You've got some nerve barging in on us-" began Grimmjow.

"Finally!" said Aizen happily. "Someone voluntarily asking!"

"Won't he be recognized though? Kurosaki, the Mexican and the girl all have seen him, not to mention Shihouin and Urahara." said Gin, leaning on Aizen's throne.

"The human form will look tamer than the arrancar inside it. All right Ulquiorra, your task is to collect information on the Vastrode in the human world without causing general suspicion, especially from the vizard. Understand?" smiled Aizen, as several other arrancar began working on Ulquiorra to make a gigai for him.

"Understood, Aizen-sama." replied Ulquiorra.

**end of chapter three**


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